Legal notices contained within unreleased versions of iOS 5 show that Apple …

Though Apple hasn't publicly disclosed any major upcoming improvements for iOS's Maps app, new legal notices contained within iOS 5 suggest Apple is still hard at work developing improvements to its mapping and geolocation features.

After acquiring two map data processing companies, PlaceBase and Poly9, it seemed Apple was in a position to drop its reliance on Google for its Maps application. Google has increasingly become a competitor for Apple in the smartphone market and mobile advertising, so at least exploring alternatives to Google's mapping data was seen as a wise move on Apple's part.

We believed that Apple would roll those improvements into iOS 5 based on repeated rumors that Apple would add location check-in and other new features to MobileMe. However, Apple announced in June that iCloud would replace MobileMe without any mention of new geolocation capabilities. Furthermore, Google's Eric Schmidt recently revealed his company had signed a new map agreement with Apple, indicating that the companies still plan to stick together for a while.

"We just renewed our Map and Search agreements with Apple, and we hope those continue for a long time," Schmidt said during the D9 conference in late May.

Despite all this, a string of new mapping-related legal notices contained in iOS 5 reveal that Apple still plans to use map and location data from a variety of new sources. Among those mentioned are TomTom, Urban Mapping, Localeze, and CoreLogic. These sources offer mapping data, property boundaries, local business information, and neighborhood data, among other things.

How Apple plans to use all this data is still a mystery, but the company admitted that anonymous geolocation data collected from iPhones will power a future real-time traffic data feature. PlaceBase and Poly9 both excelled at combining mapping data with other sources of geolocation-tagged information, so it's clear Apple intends to offer improved location-based data visualizations of some kind. We may find out just what Apple will do with all the extra data once iOS 5 is released this fall.

Well I sure as hell hope this new agreement includes turn by turn directions. It's just criminally stupid that iOS doesn't include that out of the box.

This. I don't want any fancy stuffs. Fix turn by turn first.

Another strange occurrence on my 3GS is that the gps can sometimes fail to find the current location or be very approximate in its findings unless I have the wifi on. It looks like it is using wifi data for locating itself rather than the tower A-GPS or real GPS?

The more accurate geolocation services get the better for everyone. I don't have an Apple smartphone, but I have no idea how I found new places and directions before I got a smartphone. So simple and convinent.

Another strange occurrence on my 3GS is that the gps can sometimes fail to find the current location or be very approximate in its findings unless I have the wifi on. It looks like it is using wifi data for locating itself rather than the tower A-GPS or real GPS?

As far as I know, it detects wifi networks to help guess where it is more quickly in addition to cell tower data and the actual gps signal.

Well I sure as hell hope this new agreement includes turn by turn directions. It's just criminally stupid that iOS doesn't include that out of the box.

Yes and no. Right now you can choose between several turn by turn navigation apps from major GPS companies who specialize in this kind of thing. In most cases there's a cost associated with this, but you have multiple companies competing on features and price (including free and ad supported). If Apple introduces something built-in (like you find in Android) it will probably kill the market for third party solutions and you'll get less choice.

Another strange occurrence on my 3GS is that the gps can sometimes fail to find the current location or be very approximate in its findings unless I have the wifi on. It looks like it is using wifi data for locating itself rather than the tower A-GPS or real GPS?

Like naphini said, the iPhone uses a combination of GPS, A-GPS, cell tower triangulation, and WiFi triangulation to determine location. Unless you are outdoors on a relatively clear day with minimum obstructions, the iPhone won't be able to get a GPS lock without narrowing down the location from other methods. In the case of large circles of approximate location, its due typically to cell tower triangulation.

Using an iPhone 3GS for navigation with 3rd-party software has been disappointing when compared to a side-by-side Garmin unit. The problem is that the GPS receiver inside (most?) smartphones is not as good as that found inside a dedicated GPS navigation device. Also, the refresh rate is a lot lower (so oncoming intersections approach fluidly with a Garmin while they stutter along on a smartphone.)

I'm sure this can be fixed by using better hardware (or an external antenna/receiver), but for now a smartphone is no substitute for a dedicated GPS unit. Whether its current deficiencies are still acceptable for your particular use is a matter of personal choice, but we are reluctantly still using our Garmin for trip navigation rather than switching over to using an iPhone.

(There are other issues as well, including the increased battery draw that results when the location services are turned on, and the interruption to navigation that can occur if a phone call comes at a critical moment. Those can be worked around, however.)

Using an iPhone 3GS for navigation with 3rd-party software has been disappointing when compared to a side-by-side Garmin unit. The problem is that the GPS receiver inside (most?) smartphones is not as good as that found inside a dedicated GPS navigation device. Also, the refresh rate is a lot lower (so oncoming intersections approach fluidly with a Garmin while they stutter along on a smartphone.)

I'm sure this can be fixed by using better hardware (or an external antenna/receiver), but for now a smartphone is no substitute for a dedicated GPS unit. Whether its current deficiencies are still acceptable for your particular use is a matter of personal choice, but we are reluctantly still using our Garmin for trip navigation rather than switching over to using an iPhone.

(There are other issues as well, including the increased battery draw that results when the location services are turned on, and the interruption to navigation that can occur if a phone call comes at a critical moment. Those can be worked around, however.)

Couldn't agree more.

However, after having my standalone GPS unit stolen out of my car, I resolved never to get another device that I'd generally leave in the car, and the TomTom cradle (which provides charging, BT hands free, line output, and an external GPS chip) with an iPhone 4 has been great. Calls coming in leads to a small interruption, but you can either cancel the call or hit "ok" on the dialog box that pops up once the call is connected to go straight back to the app.

I've pretty much stopped using my Garmin altogether because of the navigation available in my G2. I absolutely love the interface and all - but anything to push Google to improve (and the other way around) is a good deal in my book.

Well I sure as hell hope this new agreement includes turn by turn directions. It's just criminally stupid that iOS doesn't include that out of the box.

Yes and no. Right now you can choose between several turn by turn navigation apps from major GPS companies who specialize in this kind of thing. In most cases there's a cost associated with this, but you have multiple companies competing on features and price (including free and ad supported). If Apple introduces something built-in (like you find in Android) it will probably kill the market for third party solutions and you'll get less choice.

The TomTom app costs one hundred fucking dollars. This is functionality that comes for free on Android. To put it politely, I think Apple needs to hop in on this one; I mean, too bad for TomTom, but I don't have any personal stake in their shit.

I wish Apple would bring back the database that the people who will never use an iPhone forced them to remove. My geolocating has been much less accurate since it was removed. I hate these anti-consumer geeks that seem to be cropping up all over the internet.

The TomTom app costs one hundred fucking dollars. This is functionality that comes for free on Android. To put it politely, I think Apple needs to hop in on this one; I mean, too bad for TomTom, but I don't have any personal stake in their shit.

Hmmm. TomTom is $90 for Europe, but $50 for US or Brazil. Are you looking at a different app store than me?

The TomTom app costs one hundred fucking dollars. This is functionality that comes for free on Android. To put it politely, I think Apple needs to hop in on this one; I mean, too bad for TomTom, but I don't have any personal stake in their shit.

Hmmm. TomTom is $90 for Europe, but $50 for US or Brazil. Are you looking at a different app store than me?

Australia is $100. Screw that.

And tbh, I use Google Maps on my desktop very frequently too. I want Google Maps. I hope that if Apple gets snarky and uses their own stuff that Google will then be able to release their own maps app for iOS, and I'll replace Apple's nonsense with that. Like I do with the garbage Yahoo weather map.

On a similar thought, I hope we can choose other apps to source our weather for the iOS 5 notifications panel. Yahoo's outlook is garbage. In more ways that one!

I've pretty much stopped using my Garmin altogether because of the navigation available in my G2. I absolutely love the interface and all - but anything to push Google to improve (and the other way around) is a good deal in my book.

+1. I have a somewhat older Garmin that I now only use for offroading, since it seems to have every pair-of-ruts-in-the-dirt created by the tires of man in its database, and is completely self-contained other than the GPS signal. I initially scoffed at people using smartphones for nav, and then I got a DroidX. Now it's my full-time in-city nav device, in-car music player, hands-free phone, voice text messager... And the built-in integration with your Google Maps on *any device anywhere* is still "magical" in the Apple-ese sense to me.

Turn-by-turn seems to be one of the very few glaring deficiencies in the otherwise wonderful iPhone line. I'm absolutely *boggled* that Apple hasn't jumped on this. Sure, there are third-party solutions, but they cost and that's ultimately going to be a race to "free" anyway, eventually.

Oh no! does this mean that now we are going to be getting the 60+ pages apple user agreement every day rather and every week in order to get something from itunes? And also, would it be very hard for apple to include a "decline" button? they force you to accept their stupid agreement crap to get the garbage from their fecal store

Well I sure as hell hope this new agreement includes turn by turn directions. It's just criminally stupid that iOS doesn't include that out of the box.

Yes and no. Right now you can choose between several turn by turn navigation apps from major GPS companies who specialize in this kind of thing. In most cases there's a cost associated with this, but you have multiple companies competing on features and price (including free and ad supported). If Apple introduces something built-in (like you find in Android) it will probably kill the market for third party solutions and you'll get less choice.

The TomTom app costs one hundred fucking dollars. This is functionality that comes for free on Android. To put it politely, I think Apple needs to hop in on this one; I mean, too bad for TomTom, but I don't have any personal stake in their shit.

I found navigation to be touch and go on my Desire, plus if you want free navigation on the iPhone, download MapQuest, although I'm not sure what other maps it does.

And tbh, I use Google Maps on my desktop very frequently too. I want Google Maps. I hope that if Apple gets snarky and uses their own stuff that Google will then be able to release their own maps app for iOS, and I'll replace Apple's nonsense with that. Like I do with the garbage Yahoo weather map.

You've maybe heard of maps.google.com? It works on every iPhone, and there's nothing Apple can do to block it. You can even save a link to your homescreen: http://arst.ch/ply

Well I sure as hell hope this new agreement includes turn by turn directions. It's just criminally stupid that iOS doesn't include that out of the box.

I'd just be happy if they fixed the MAJOR oversight that you cannot see the colored solid-line (which indicates traffic conditions) because they lie underneath the blue solid-line (which indicates route)! It's as if no one in Apple ever actually USED the app, because you'd think if they DID, they'd say, "huh, you can't see the traffic conditions: maybe we should use a dot-dash line on top"?

Amazing that no one at Apple has noticed, much less fixed, this oversight....